Back in the early 80s when the crash of gaming industry had been starting off in between 1983 and 1985 where several of companies had declared with bankruptcy which causes them to stop producing their home computers and video game consoles in their region. Due to poor reception of Atari 2600's title such as Pac-Man 2600 and E.T the Extra-Terrestrial are the biggest examples of failures that damages the company's reputation which led Atari, Inc. to decline in 1984, there are one of the game console that saved the gaming industry was Nintendo Entertainment System is a Japanese 8-bit game system created by Nintendo was released in year between 1985-86 for western release and it is considered to be not only being one of the greatest game console of all-time, but it is also being one of the best-selling console of 80's which sold over 60 million worldwide. It was known for being technically impressive 8-bit graphics filled with colourful and advanced looking game design, the controllers are fully well-designed for the quality of gameplay style, it has memorable 8-bit soundtrack that defined video game music genres, with all the help and support of third-party developers making their titles for the Nintendo's system, and spawns numerous of killer games that defined gaming like Mega Man, Castlevania, Contra, Ninja Gaiden, Kirby's Adventures, The legend of Zelda and of course the Nintendo's biggest landmark title Super Mario Bros which is highly successful video game franchises in history.
The success of Nintendo Entertainment System had inspired several of manufacture companies such as SEGA, Atari Corp, Panasonic, Philips, Sony, and Microsoft in later gaming generation of 90's to 2000's. With the legacy of NES, the company Nintendo had decided to make a smaller version of their successful 8-bit console called Nintendo Classic Mini (AKA NES Classic Edition in US and Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer in Japan) was released in November 2016. It's a miniature game system which features 30 licensed NES library and ability to use save state for all of them. It sold 2.3 million of game system during the release and got discontinued in April 2017 which causing confusion to consumers and leading with higher price among sellers. Due to console demand, Nintendo had finally re-release the system on June 2018 till December 2018.
Back in my gaming nostalgia days when I grew up playing several of classic game systems such as SNES, Megadrive, N64, PS1, Saturn, Dreamcast, Gamecube, Xbox original, and GBA, but I never had a chance to play the original NES until in 2016 I had finally got hands on with the Nintendo Classic Mini because I f***ing love Nintendo with passion, so I had to get this bad boy setup on my HDTV and start playing several of great NES title in over 3 hours a day. I was super surprised with the mini system had turned out to be a successful which did not disappoint me at all as I really enjoyed playing Super Mario Bros, Kirby's Adventures, Punch-Out, Donkey Kong and many of games to play on this tiny little system. I love several of the NES games titles which I felt this is a great choice to fit well on the NES library and I also liked the NES controller which is simplistic and comfortable to hold. The graphics and sound design are so far well emulated on HDTV standards offering much tidier and neater display and all of the sounds were still present for most of the NES titles. Despite the positive aspects of this system, it also had some minor drawbacks such as short length wire, missing posters and plug adaptor for European releases, and some favourites NES titles weren't featured in the classic mini such as Batman, Blaster Master, Ducktales and Battletoads in which I will discuss these further later while reviewing this product. I'm very glad that it was manufactured by Nintendo themselves because I didn't want to buy any of crappy third-party companies like how AtGames, a companies who was known for making their piss poor clones consoles, totally destroys their clone version of SEGA's beloved console from early 90's such as SEGA Genesis/Megadrive, so looks like SEGA got their lesson learned because Nintendo just got their own dedicated console right where it should be and knows how to make the console properly before the release.
So without go further do, lets start the review.
Hardware and Design
On the box set of Nintendo Classic Mini, it has nicely made front cover art of this package that has the image of the game system and controller with 30 games pre-installed that really adds the public attention to consumers. I also liked the gradient background colour of black and blue adding with white doted on the front of the box set, while the side of the box shows the person's hand holding the NES mini console and the back of the box shows the selection of NES library which I think it's pretty look good for its box art design meaning it gives a significant feel of the original NES from the mid-80's.
After unboxing things, it comes with one manual which has a guidance instructions to help you how to set up the game console correctly which comes useful, it comes with one controller which you will need it in order to play NES game by plugging into the console ports, the USB power supply cable are used for powering up your console where you can plug it on the USB port, but unfortunately the European release doesn't come with the USB plug adaptor so unlike the US release you have to buy a USB adaptor separately from the store, the HDMI cable are for connecting from back of game console into the HDTV which allows system to display the game in the HDTV screen. So far the actual game box are packaged nicely well especially with the brand new condition that keeps the overall product well neatly without any signs of damage.
The design of the mini console is just about the size of the human hands which feels quite lighter to hold as the build quality of the system are quite acceptable which Nintendo has done properly right meaning that it doesn't feel any cheap and clunky on the system which I'm glad that the NES Classic Mini is looking spectacular to see how they managed to make a perfect quality console. This console obviously resembles to 80's original NES which I really liked the overall design with orangy red font style on the front of the console and the whole console mixed with light and dark grey surfaces with vertically black rectangular shaped on the top-right side of the console. It has two button on the front-left side of the console where you can able to turn on or reset your console and the front-right side of the console has two controller ports which is very identical to Nintendo Wii Remote's port which is different from the original NES controller port from the 80's has only 7 pins connector. The back of the system has USB power supply port which you will need to connect from the system into the USB port of devices or adapter, while the HDMI output port connects from the system into the HDMI output port of HDTV.
While testing the NES mini console for more than the week, I felt the hardware emulation is responding well as the original NES which I don't see any sign of game crashes and major slowdowns meaning that this system is quite flawless with no sudden mistakes when using the NES system for 3 hours a day. There are some minor glitch for some NES game (such as Super Mario Bros 3, Megaman 2 and Kirby's Adventures) was present on the original NES version which I don't think it would effect the gameplay overall as I say that it plays absolutely fine with no sign of display lags when playing these awesome game on HDTV.
It is good to see that most of the NES titles on the European NES Classic Mini system are running on the forced NTSC region meaning that the NTSC version has better emulation speed than the slower PAL version.
For example, I've began to research by watching the video comparison between the NTSC and PAL version of the original NES console where most of the TV technologies from the 80's had different two encoding systems on each countries such as the NTSC are originated from Americas, while PAL are originated from Europe. I started to notice that the NTSC version of original NES console runs on 1.79 MHz allowing the games to have better overall frame rate and screen resolution, while the PAL version of original NES console has 1.66 MHz which is slightly slower compared with NTSC, but still remains playable. So far, the NES Classic Mini had worked positively which I barely see any of problems on this hardware meaning that the Nintendo had done successfully well on making this piece of technology as being a highest quality of all dedicated console.
Overall, it has sleek console design, great build quality and responsive hardware emulation.
Presentation
On the menus, you can see how good the user interface looks such as icons, images, colours and designs. I really liked the dark blue backgrounds and the grey layouts of menus which presenting really well for the NES theme. I felt that the menus are easier to navigate things because it has highlighted blue box which allows you to navigate things as the navigation in the menus felt really smoother to control these selectable options. I really liked the icons on the top menus which helps me able to recognising these options easier such as display which has TV display icon, options has tool icon, languages has letter symbol, manuals has question mark icon and legal notice has paper icon, and I also liked the wings animation and size of box screen on the save state options. On the front of the NES menu screen which has selection of games to choose as these games title has image of game's front cover, four smaller circles for save states and player icon for number of players.
I believe these numerous of NES titles were included on this system are seems to be pretty wise choice for NES mini console such as Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Ninja Gaiden, Super C, Castlevania, Kirby's Adventures, Donkey Kong, Excitebike, Final Fantasy, Punch Out, and Megaman 2 which really fits well for the NES categories, while I think Tecmo Bowl and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest are kinda seems to be bizarre choices for NES collection because I'm not good at playing the American Football type of game and it would have been better if Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse were included on this than the Simon's Quest in my opinion, but still it wasn't a bad thing to have it on the NES Classic Mini library. There are some fewer missing games that aren't present on the NES classic mini such as Contra, Ducktales, Batman, Battletoads and Blaster Master which should have been a much fun choice to add it on the NES mini system.
So far, I really liked the overall presentation and the game choices of NES console mini as it appeals to all retro gaming fans who liked the old-school style gaming may going to enjoy playing these games on the modern HDTV.
Overall, it has simple UI design, easy to navigate menus and great selection of NES games.
Controller
The original NES controller is remarkably legendary when it comes with the classic 8-bit gaming was known for innovative gameplay which heavily utilises the NES controller meaning it has ability to add more commands for its gameplay style such as allowing character to move, jump, shoot, and etc.
Going back to this controller for NES console mini which is exactly the same as the original NES controller, but there are notable differences from the original. It has the rectangular shape of the controller with d-pad, 2-buttons, and Start and Select button just like the original, but it has different wired plug which is identical to Nintendo Wii's Classic Controller which fits into the Wii remote's port so I can able to use NES classic mini controller plugged into the Wii remote to play Virtual Console NES titles which is sounds pretty cool. The overall design itself is definitely spot on because the button layout on the controller is well designed and I liked the shape of the controller which is comfortable to hold and play many of the NES games, but the problem on this controller is that the wire is lot shorter than the original NES which is harder for gamers when trying to bring their controller near them as they preferred sitting on the couch far way from TV over sitting on the floor near too close to TV unless getting the third-party extension cord is the best option to make the wire much longer. So far, I really liked the controller because its one of the most inspiring video game controller ever created by Nintendo themselves. I have no issues with the controller while playing some of the NES titles such as Super C where I can able to shoot anywhere in different direction and on Super Mario Bros I can able to dash and jump at same time which works absolutely fine with no annoying input lags whatsoever meaning that the controller is still fantastic overall.
Overall, it has impressive design and responsive controls.
Graphics and Sounds
The graphics in each NES titles are looking spectacularly on the HDTV due to use of HDMI output can able to run on 720p/1080p making it look more cleaner and neater without any signs of blurry ness and messy images. You have the options to select any of three graphics filters such as CRT which is more of the old-school style filters from CRT TV of 80's and 90's, the 4:3 resolution has normal size screen which is more balanced looking pictures with simple filters, and the pixel perfect has smaller screen but has better graphics filters which I preferred more of this better over the previous displays options. I see no signs of display lags on the HDTV which I believe Nintendo knew how the classic gaming console worked properly when testing several of NES games to see if works properly done on HDTV.
The sounds on the NES classic mini has catchy 8-bit tunes on the menus which kinda reminds me of jingle tunes from Wii Shop Channels. The soundtrack from the NES titles had worked really well meaning it hasn't missing out the melodies whatsoever making it a near perfect music when listening some memorable tunes such as Mega Man 2, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Punch Out and many of games, and the sound effects are also present on every NES games with no sudden sounds delays meaning that all sound effects are working fine as normally on original NES.
Overall, it has cleaner graphics and perfect sounds design.
Special Features
What really made this mini system cool that aren't present on the Original NES console was the ability to use save states that allows you to save game as a bookmarks so you can able to continue the game where you left off makes very easier for newcomers to save whatever they want and other cool features is that your Wii classic controller are compatible for this system meaning that you can able to play NES games with your Wii classic controller which I finding it a wise choice by Nintendo because now I can use my Madcatz Arcade Controller (Wii) on this system which worked really well when playing most of the NES titles. It's a shame that they didn't include the poster from the US release which is kinda bummer for those who have NES Classic Mini from European release because I really wanted to stick the cool looking poster in my bedroom, but oh well that's Nintendo to you guys.
Overall it has cool save states and compatible controllers.
Advantages
Sleek looking old-school console
Great controller with no input lags
Magnificent selection of games to play
Game looks fantastic on HDTV with much cleaner graphics filters
Perfect sounds emulation
Cool special features
Disadvantages
Some few games are missing such as Contra, Ducktales, Castlevania 3: Dracula Curse, Batman, Blaster Master and Battletoads (Why Not?!)
Short length of wire
The poster and DC plug adapter were missing on European release
Final Verdict
Hardware and Design 9.5/10 - sleek console design, great build quailty and responsive hardware emulation.
Presentation 9/10 - simple UI design, easy to navigate menus and great selection of NES games.
Controller 9/10 - impressive design and responsive controls.
Graphics and Sounds 9.5/10 - cleaner graphics and perfect sounds design.
Special Features 9.5/10 - cool save states and compatible controllers.
Overall 9.5/10 - Nintendo Classic Mini is got to be one of the best dedicated console ever I've bought it for my gaming collection. It has tons of NES games to play, great controller, options to change filters, having Wii Classic Controller compatibility and everything that this system has to offer. I had such fun of playing this system over a 3 hours a days with zero flaws and not making any of issues meaning this things works brilliantly for the fans of the retro gaming.
This system cost originally £50 at the release which unfortunately when the mini system went out of stock quickly that causing to increase cost higher than the original price meaning that it makes lot harder for consumers to buy it from online or retail store because it may be harder to find as it goes fully rare and expensive now of days, unless find something cheaper from any of local video game store or flea market for less than the original price. Despite the ridiculous high price due to out of stock units, I'm very glad that I had thing thing in time so I can able to spend time more playing on NES system and I highly recommended to all the collectors to go pick it up and play all your favourite classics to bring back your gaming nostalgia, so if you are able to master all your favourite classics NES titles then now you're playing with the power.
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